Kardashev Scale

Introduction and Ways to Achieve it

-Wasim M Rahman
CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Objective

3. Why Should Humanity Try To Look Into The Kardashev Scale

And What Is The Use Of It

4. How Far Had Humanity Came To This Scale And What Will It
Take To Reach The Next

5. What Are Some Of The Technological Advancement Which May

Happen In The Near Future To Help Us Advance In The Levels
Of Civilisation

6. What Challenges Can We Face To Make These Technologies A

Reality

7. Conclusion

8. Bibliography
Introduction

Soviet Astronomer, Nikolai Kardashev proposed the theory of Kardashev Scale in

1964.The Kardashev scale is a method to measure the level of human civilisation
and it’s advancement. There are 3 levels in the scale which are Type 1 Civilisation,
Type 2 Civilisation and Type 3 Civilisation. The scale is hypothetical and it regards
to the consumption of energy by human civilisation at a very large level. Many
other people has also given the extensions of the Kardashev Scale in type 0, type 4
and type 5 too.

Nikolai Kardashev, first proposed this theory in an article, “Transmission of

Information by Extra-terrestrial civilisation” based on the energy consumption of
humanity. The Scientist calculated that the energy required by humanity will be
equal to the energy emitted by the sun in 3200 years, in the future

According to Kardashev, a type 1 civilisation should be able to harness all of the

energy of it’s planet. On a broader scale, they should also be able to control the
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A type 2 civilisation should be able to harness
the energy of it’s star and then a type 3 civilisation should be able to harness the
energy of an entire galaxy.
OBJECTIVE

We will look at how long will it take human civilisation to reach the Kardashev scale
with the latest technology that we have available with us in the 21 st century.

We will look into numerous technological advancements which may take place in
the near future which will help us achieve the Kardashev Scale.

We will look at what kind of challenges humanity may face to achieve the
technologies required for the Kardashev scale and other theories related to the
Kardashev scale

But first of all, we will try to find out that why should we scale the Kardashev Scale.
WHY SHOULD HUMANITY TRY TO LOOK INTO THE
KARDASHEV SCALE AND WHAT IS THE USE OF IT

The Kardashev Scale measures the advancement of human civilisation according to

it’s energy consumption. In every aspect of life in this advanced world, human
beings need energy. Energy is required from the time we wake up to the time we
go to bed and even in between too. However, this is only on a personal scale. If we
look into the broader scale, then energy is required for to run infrastructure, it is
required to transport goods, it is required in the defence and military field and
many more. As the world will see it’s advancement, humanity will require more and
more energy.

The energy needs of humanity was once fulfilled with the use of biomass and coal.
Then it started to get fulfilled by the use of petroleum and natural gas and finally,
some part of it is getting fulfilled by the use of renewable sources of energy which
are nuclear and solar forms of energy. Also the energy consumption has seen a
mass rise with the start of 20th century. At that time, almost half of the world’s
energy requirement was fulfilled by coal. Trains, Cars etc., used coal as the ultimate
source of energy back then. After this with the discovery of using gasoline as an
excellent fuel in the late 1800s. The world again seen the rise in the requirement of
energy. As the human population will increase, the energy requirement will also
increase and in order to meet the requirement, humanity will do more and more
technological advancement in the field of harnessing energy.

Kardashev provided an excellent method by classifying humanity according to the

advancement in energy consumption into 3 levels as discussed above. Let us see
how can we attain those 3 levels with the technological advancements which may
happen in the future.
HOW FAR HAD HUMANITY CAME TO THIS SCALE AND
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO REACH THE NEXT

The Type 1 Civilisation is the one which will be able to harness all of the energy
from it’s planet. They will also be able to control the earth’s natural phenomena
like earthquakes and volcanoes. With the latest technologies which we have, we
are far away from reaching the type 1 civilisation. In today’s world, much of our
energy needs is met by the non renewable sources of energy like petroleum and
natural gas. It will take many years for humanity to stop relying on these resources.
However, renewable energy is no more in papers only. Our scientists had already
made renewable energy a reality, decades ago. In today’s modern world, we can
see that energy is being produced by nuclear, solar, hydel, geo thermal etc. The
global renewable energy is around 6 percent of the total global energy production.
This is a great achievement for humanity to reach this much. But now we should
try to make this a 2 digit number and then finally we can achieve a 3 digit number.
We should try to achieve small things and look forward for the bigger achievements
because drops of water creates an ocean.

The future is very much unpredictable, nobody can say that how much we will
advance in technology in the upcoming decade. Smart phones are quite
unpredictable in the early 20th century. But computers became a reality by the mid
of the century. Also video calls were a dream but it also gained it’s presence in the
mid 20th century. Also now we are relying largely on petroleum and CNG operated
vehicles but battery powered vehicles has also entered the market, but who knows
that human beings will start to drive solar powered vehicles and nuclear powered
jets in the near decades.

We should try our level best to supply our energy needs with 100 percent of
renewable energy. Governments should try to invest more and more time and
economy on renewable energy sources and also private sector should try to start
the mass manufacture of electric vehicles. For this, one of the most important thing
to happen is the coming together of the entire world for human civilisation to
advance more and more. In many underdeveloped nations, still there are
traditional methods of energy production being used which is also causing harm to
our environment and contributing in the global warming. In order to counter this,
developed nations and private sector should invest more in them so that the
problem of poverty can be countered and then gradually these nations can also
advance in the technological race. Countries and governments should give up their
political agendas and come together at least for humanity.

If we keep in mind the Kardashev scale then humanity is still a type 0 civilisation. In
order to be a type 1 civilisation, we should be able to harness all the energy which
will strike the earth from the Sun. According to a NASA report, each and every year
around 342 watts of energy strike the earth every sq. meter. On further calculation,
that is over 44 quadrillion watts of energy. It will take tens of millions of power
planet to produce this much energy.

The world in 2022 consumed about 24,000 terawatt hour of electricity. If we could
harness the entire energy striking the earth, then we will no longer be required to
depend on any other form of energy as energy will be surplus. Also as far as the
control of natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes is concerned,
humanity is still far more behind controlling these phenomena as long as they occur
naturally. However, the massive development and disturbance of environment,
deforestation has caused numerous other natural phenomena to occur. Land
slides, floods are very much prone in the areas where there is a huge deforestation
and cutting of hills for human settlements. Also, humanity has advanced in the
military scale so much that it can cause man made earthquakes by exploding bombs
under the ground.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL
ADVANCEMENTS WHICH MAY HAPPEN IN THE NEAR
FUTURE TO HELP US ADVANCE IN THE LEVELS OF
CIVILISATION

The More we will dive into the future, the more energy we will need and the more
scientific researches and technological advances will occur in order to generate the
tremendous amount of energy. When humanity will move towards a type 2
civilisation then it will be able to harness all of the energy emitted by the sun. Now,
the sun is way larger than the earth is. And so only a very tiny amount of it’s energy
reaches earth. The sun emits a huge amount of energy in the form of light and in
order to harness this much amount of energy, may be we will require something
that entirely covers the sun and harnesses all of it’s solar energy.

Dyson’s Sphere
If we have to achieve this, we will require a Dyson's sphere. A Dyson’s sphere is a
megastructure which will enclose the entire sun and will harness the energy
emitted from it, proposed by Scientist Freeman Dyson. In some science fiction, it
can be a reality. But if we are to build this megastructure around the sun then it
will take tremendous amount of resources. The surface area of sun is around
12,000 times bigger than the surface area of the earth. Also it’s surface area is more
than 6 trillion kilometres squared. In order to build a Dyson’s sphere to enclose the
entire sun then it is not economically possible to do so. However, sun emits energy
so much that we will not be able to store it even if we could collect all of it. So
should we cancel the plan? No. This is true that we cannot enclose the entire sun
but we can still enclose a very tiny part of it. At least a few 10 square kilometres
can be covered. This approach will be highly small as compared to creating an entire
megastructure enclosing the sun but we need to achieve the small for at and then
jump towards the next.
It will be possible if we can launch satellites near the sun with solar panels attached
to them. It can reach the safe distance from the sun and also it will be able to
produce more and more energy than a solar farm on earth. This is because these
solar panels in the satellites can get heated throughout the year as there will be no
night in the space and also it can get more and more heated as a result of which it
can get more heated and hence harness more energy. Also, in order to transfer the
energy to earth, these satellites can use laser beams to transfer energy from the
satellites to earth. On earth, we can put laser receivers which will receive the lasers
and then convert them for other uses.

If we move further into this study. The next level is the Type 3 civilisation. A type 3
civilisation is the one which will be able to harness all of the energy emitted by the
entire galaxy. Not only the stars but black holes and any other body emitting
energy. This will be a really challenging task to do but still possible with huge
amount of money and resources.

The more energy we will be able to harness, the more we can go deep into the
future and the more advanced civilisation humanity will be. If we think of becoming
a type 3 civilisation then we will be required to enclose each and every star with a
Dyson’s Sphere. This will take massive amount of revenue and resources. As
because creating such type of only one structure is itself a big challenge. May be it
will be possible to be a type 2 civilisation in the next few centuries as human race
is advancing in the scientific race every single day.

Mining The Earth’s Crust And The Asteroid Belt

The earth’s crust contains billions of tonnes of different useful and precious metals.
It has huge reserves of gold, platinum, uranium, iron, magnesium, sodium etc.
These minerals are located deep down the earth, several kilometres from the
surface. The earth’s crust is 15 to 20 kilometres thick on an average and within this
region we can find useful metals which can help us meet our needs for raw
materials in order to construct megastructures for development and advancement.
The abundance of gold in earth’s crust is 4 ppb. Many estimates says that there
could be millions or billions of tonnes of gold lying beneath the earth’s crust. This
is all when the abundance of gold is 4 ppb. So what can be the amount of other
minerals which have percentage composition of 12 percent, 5 percent, or more or
less. The point is that mining the earth’s crust is actually a lot profitable.

If we go further, mining the asteroid belt is another big task to do. The asteroid belt
consists of a lot of metallic asteroids which have a very high content of metal. There
is an asteroid which is Psyche 16, scientists estimate that if it was to mine out then
it will be enough to give every person on earth a billion dollars. And the fact is that
this estimation is only based for gold. So we can imagine that how much more other
minerals can be found. Also the more we cm explore the universe, the more we can
see options to meet our requirement of asteroid.

In order to mine the earth’s crust. We must keep several things in mind. As we go
deep down the earth, the temperature will continue to increase. At a certain point,
the temperature increases so much that it may be more than the melting point of
many metals.

The earth’s crust can be mined by several techniques. One suggestion may be the
digging on large tunnels from the surface to the points of the earth’s crust where
metals are found. A large elevator can be constructed through which the metals
can be brought. The elevator can be attached to the top of the drilling machine so
that only the required area can be drilled. After this manpower can be used to mine
out these minerals and then use them for different activities. However, numerous
precautions should also be taken in order to avoid hazards.

3D Printing Of The Megastructures

It may be a little bit difficult to launch the Spacecrafts one after the other. Because
launching a Spacecrafts is a very expensive stuff to do. For this, another thing can
be done and that is to 3d print the entire structure after it reaches the position. The
Spacecrafts can be loaded with 3d printing mechanism which can print the entire
panels of the solar panel and then the further processes can be carried out. These
mechanisms can have large machines on each sides. The 3d printers can be set on
a finite long path on which they can move from one point to another and go on
printing the panels up to the set limit. Once they are done, they will be able to
return to the system through these paths. Also these paths can have systems
beneath them which can absorb the heat energy and then send it to earth through
the laser lights mounted on the Spacecraftss. Also nowadays, 3d printing is gaining
more and more use in the industrial atmosphere and the manufacturing of several
goods is done by 3d printing.

Nuclear Fueled Spacecrafts

Nuclear energy is a renewable form of energy and so it can be used to generate
large amounts of energy wherever it is required in a large scale. The concept of
Nuclear powered Spacecraft was first used in 1961 by US Navy to launch a satellite.
Even today organizations like NASA and DARPA are working together on nuclear
propulsion concept which can be used to launch spacecraft for future Mars
missions. Nuclear reactors can be planted on spacecraft and then propelling them
towards space can work out for the process of space travels.

Antimatter
Antimatter are composed of anti particles. These particles arise in natural
processes such as cosmic ray collisions and radioactive decays. However, the
artificial production of antimatter remains at only a few Nano grams. This is
because the expense is way too high. Scientists says that artificial production of
antimatter can cost as much as 60 trillion dollars for only one gram. However, in
the near future scientists may find out some new and cheap way of artificially
produce antimatter.
WHAT CHALLENGES CAN WE FACE TO MAKE THESE
TECHNOLOGIES A REALITY

The technologies which will be required to move up in the Kardashev scale are too
much expensive and humanity lacks the massive resources required for this
advancement. Even if we try to reach level one. Then it will require massive
resources to collect all the energy that reaches the earth from the sun. Could it be,
we have to encircle one side of the earth with a Dyson’s Sphere which can harness
the energy. We will not require to cover the entire earth with a Dyson’s Sphere.
Since earth rotates around the sun, so we would oy have to make the Dyson’s
Sphere static to the rotation of the earth so that it can receive all the enrgy that
strikes earth. But covering a side of the earth with Dyson’s sphere then it will take
hundreds of thousands of tonnes of metals and other raw materials to be
transported to the space which will require thousands of space launches and it will
ultimately cost trillions for that.

As covering only one side of the earth is a big challenge. Then covering the entire
sun will be a bigger challenge. The harsh reality is that with the current economic
and resourceful situation of our earth then it is currently impossible to attain this.
Also, the controlling of natural phenomenon remains another big challenge. But if
we tried to do this by arranging solar panels on satellites then it can a little bit
easier. However, the transfer of energy can also be a little bit problematic as the
transfer through laser is the cheapest way. But still if an object comes in the way of
the leaders then it will disrupt the path of energy transfer. Also if the high energy
carrying lasers strikes an organism then it can be hazardous too.

Also, since the earth will be rotating so we would require to put multiple stations
and also need to change the position of the lasers from one station to another for.
However, this can be fixed through another satellite which can receive the lasers
and then transfer them to earth.
If we will be able to achieve this also, then the next thing we need to do is to move
towards the Kardashev scale type 3. In this type we have to build Dyson’s Spheres
around every star in our galaxy. We can’t stop there and also we will need to build
Dyson’s Spheres around other bodies such as Black holes etc. Our galaxy which is
the Milky Way, has around 100 billion stars and if we plan to harness the entire
energy from it than it will require resources as the mass of earth is or may be more
or less. Also, the Milky Way is around 100,000 light years wide. Meaning light will
take 100,000 years to reach from one of it’s end to the other. According to Albert
Einstein, no object can travel faster than the speed of light. Even if we achieved 99
percent the speed of light then also it will take more than 100,000 light years to
reach the other end of the galaxy. Also, our sun is just a dwarf star, there are many
stars which are way bigger than our sun so covering them can just be a dream.

If we tried to extract resources from the crust of our earth, then it will require very
much advanced technologies to do so. We would require to minimize the cost of
drilling deep down the earth. Also the temperature of the earth’s crust ranges from
200 to 400 degree Celsius. This much amount of heat is unbearable for a human
body and working there will be very much dangerous. In order to counter this,
scientists can make exoskeleton suits which can keep the human body cool. Also,
we will need to find the exact location beneath which there are mineral reserves.
Because if we drilled 20 kilometres only to find that the point where we are drilling
is wrong then it will be a huge loss. For this, engineers can make robots which can
have AI introduced to detect the metallic properties in order the find the exact
location. These robots can also be modified to have the ability to detect the
minerals but also to find out the size of the ore.

If we tried to move on the scale of space mining, then mining the asteroid belt can
be our next step. In order to mine asteroids we need to launch Spacecrafts which
can carry more weight than average spacecraft can. The Spacecrafts which has the
highest pay load capacity of today is SpaceX Starship with over 300 tonnes.
However, if we went to bring resources from the asteroids to earth using this much
weight than it will be a great loss. As the expenditure of the spacecraft launch is
more than the worth of asteroid to launch the Starship itself. However, in order to
counter this, we can have multiple space stations along the path of the asteroid
belt to earth from where the resources will be transferred to earth. These space
stations will transfer the resources from one to another using robotic spacecraft
and then it will be finally brought to earth through drones. This can’t cut the cost
up to a very large extent but still we can hope to at least make the expenditure less
than it would take for one spacecraft to go and bring the resources again and again.

3D Printing of megastructure can be possible if we can make a material which can

change it’s properties according to the requirement. May be we can artificially
make a material that can change it’s properties as needed and name it ‘Hybridium’,
for it being a hybrid of properties of all metals. If we can achieve this then we can
3d print megastructures in the space and then use them for further needs.
However, it is not that simple. If we have to 3d print a spacecraft then we should
keep it under the observation of human beings. Spacecrafts require high tech
engineering and it also requires a mixture of many materials to be used to make
different parts of the spacecraft. If a small part goes missing then it can create a big
trouble. In order to fix this issue, we can install AI processors to monitor the
building of the entire spacecraft and evaluate if there is a fault in the system.

One way we can minimize the fuel requirement is by using renewable energy.
Nuclear energy is an excellent way to cut the requirement of modern fuels. Nuclear
reactors can be used to power the spacecraft and space stations but the massive
nuclear waste produced needs to be managed. As we talked about extracting
resources from the earth’s crust, uranium is more abundant than gold and silver in
the earth’s crust. For these reasons scientists and engineers should find ways to
mine the earth’s crust.

Artificial Production of antimatter is a very expensive process and so only a few

Nano grams is synthesized. Also, storing it is another challenge as it can yield energy
equivalence of little boy nuclear bomb when only one gram of antimatter touches
matter resulting in the destruction of particles by each other.
OTHER THOERIES

The Kardashev Scale has seen it’s mass extensions which are however, not
proposed by Nikolai Kardashev but by some other scholars and scientists. Some
theories suggests that there may he type 100 levels of civilisation. Others say that
there exists up to type 7 level of civilisation. If we look into the level next to type 3,
then there exists the type 4 civilisation which will be able to harness all of the
energy in it’s super cluster of galaxies. At this point, the energy consumption is
estimated to be 10 to the power of 50 or even more. The type 4 civilisation will also
be able to manipulate space time and time travel.

The next level is the type 5 civilisation where humanity will be able to explore the
multi verse and have complete control over the fabric of reality. They can also
create an entire custom universe and will be able to explore the different laws of
physics.

The next level is the type 6 civilisation which can explore the megaverse and will be
able to have a control over all the natural laws of physics across the universe and
they can also exist in the 11th dimension. They will have total control over the other
dimensions and will know the massive extents of technological advancements.

These theories aren’t proposed by Nikolai Kardashev himself but they became the
base of these new theories and other scholars and scientists still used his name to
know the public the extents of human civilisation. In order to achieve these all,
humanity will require to achieve some of the most important hypothetical concepts
such as wormholes, space time, time travel etc.
CONCLUSION

The Future is unpredictable as said earlier. No body knows what humanity will be
able to achieve in the upcoming years. The future will remain unseen and when the
time arrives then various advancements will happen in the astronomical fields. May
be we can encounter an advanced civilisation, far more advanced than humanity.
Or we can also find forms of life in a different planet where life had just started to
evolve. We need to do further researches on various technological advancements
and hypothetical concepts to achieve the levels of human civilisations. Scientist
Nikolai Kardeshev’s theory can be a reality in the upcoming future and also all the
other technologies that are discussed in this report can be witnessed by the
generations after us or could it be we can also see elevators reaching the earth’s
crust and bringing back resources. Or we can witness free electricity bills in the near
future when energy becomes surplus.

Everyday, science and technology is observing new researches and as humanity

becomes more efficient in these researches and hypothetical concepts will become
reality and the day will not be further when finally humanity will declare itself as a
super civilisation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.nasa.gov

www.kardashev.fandom.com

www.euroenergy.com

www.space.com
THANK YOU